| Category: | Musical composition |
| Dated: | Late 1949 - early 1950 |
| Instrumentation: | Prepared piano and magnetic tape |
| Duration: | Under 20' (which is the duration of the film). Sequences I and III (of 3) contain piano music, sequence II is for magnetic tape |
| Premiere and performer(s): | 1950 |
| Dedicated to: | |
| Choreography: | --- |
| Published: | --- |
| Manuscript: | Score (holograph in ink and red pencil, including emendations in black pencil - 3+7 p.); Listing of shots in the film (in ink with annotation in red pencil - 5 lv.); Instructions concerning duplication for publication (typescript - 1 lf.); Table of preparations (holograph, signed, in black and blue pencil - 2 lv.), all in New York Public Library. |
| The music was written for a short film by Herbert Matter on the Artist Alexander Calder. The tape includes
sounds of mobiles bumping into one another, recorded in Calder's studio. The soundtrack was recorded in January 1950.
The idea of the music was Cage's philosophy that the sounds be the noises and that they be relevant to what one is seeing on
the pictures. "Rhythmically composed sequences suggest a parallel between familiar forms and movements in nature and the movements of Calder's mobile" (from John Cage: 'A Few Ideas About Music and Film') In 1951 the music was awarded First Prize by the Woodstock Art Film Festival. The film has been acquired by the Museum of Modern Art Film Library in New York. |